We ran into the seat confusion and had to reorder our car because of it. The standard seats included are in fact manual, lever and pull systems. In order to get them power you MUST purchase the ~1000 power seat and memory. Rather irritating from BMW.

Standard long ways "matte black" roof racks are included (changing the color is a charge with different models) but to place bikes on them you must buy some kind of system. BMW sells them and they were reasonably priced. They look like this info: http://www.circlebmwparts.com/partsn...ccessories.htm. You could always make them apart of your purchase agreement... "throw in the bike rails and you have a deal". Then there is always this thread that talks about the rear mount bike rack... http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=643191

If the college grad thing is like the loyalty program you MUST finance through BMWFS to get the discount. Read the fine print on the info page. I would assume paying in cash makes it invalid as BMWUSA reimburses the dealer for those type of rebates.

This is my first new car buying experience too and its been uber stressful. I know exactly how you feel!

Oh the repair front. If you buy it you get the standard 4year/50k everything covered maintenance and warranty. So you wont have to fix anything. I've got a 13 year old 323i that has been an awesome car. It has had a few smaller things needing repair in the last few years but now its coming up on needing some major work so its time to buy a new one. Not bad for a 13 year old. Keep in mind anything out of warranty will be more expensive than a non-luxary car though. Most repairs hit at least 1k whereas our ford just has major work done and only cost 400.

Edit: I pulled up the college grad info and it specifically states you must lease or finance. http://www.bmwusa.com/standard/conte...teprogram.aspx If you have enough to pay it all, maybe you can finance less than 10k or something to get the discount and then pay it right off.